Severe weather lashes Rotorua

Rotorua has had a dumping of more than 33mm of rain in the past hour, a severe weather forecaster from Metservice says and some residents are without power.

John Crouch, from Metservice said the cause of the rough weather was from a trough line travelling up the country associated with a south-east wind change which triggered the rain and thunderstorms over parts of the North Island, including Rotorua, Taupo and Turangi.

Crouch said the weather was travelling towards, Tauranga, Tokoroa and south-east Waikato.

Rain has flooded parts of Owhata, such as Byron Grove. Photo/Suplied

Some parts of Rotorua have experienced heavy rainfall, including Owhata and Lynmore where driveways were flooded.

"I was driving to Mum's house to pay a visit. It started raining really heavily. Two fire trucks zoomed past me at the Sala Street/Te Ngae Road intersection," said Lynmore resident Ashton Ledger.

"The forest side of Te Ngae Road adjacent to Hamiora Place was heavily flooded. Cars were slowing down to go through it.

Flash flooding on Vaughan Rd. Photo/Stephen Parker

"Selwyn Rd was completely flooded. A few guys were out unblocking the drains in their bare feet. I don't think it would've been much help though as when I got further down the road, water was gushing out of the manhole.

"The stream down the road had also flooded.I noticed a few kids in their togs sitting in the gutter fighting the currents too," said Ledger.

Flash flooding on Vaughan Rd. Photo/Stephen Parker

Rotorua resident Jonathan Dodd filmed a waterfall of water pouring from a neighbour's property down onto his flooded lawn and past his house just after 6pm.

His end of the street, next to Warwick Drive Reserve in Lynmore, was completely submerged as council drainage had proven inadequate.

Infracore staff who visited the property told him it was "not a case of poor maintenance but just poor design", made worse by earthworks carried out by a neighbour.

But Dodd said his house had "mainly just some wet carpets, thanks to some preventative action and makeshift sandbagging...Can't complain when you think of Edgecumbe".

A police media spokeswoman said police were assisting the council with traffic management at a major intersection in the East Side.

She wasn't aware which intersection.

They have also received calls about major flooding on Vaughan Rd, between Tennnyson Dr and Allen Mills Rd.

She said the flooding was "car tyre deep".

Police were urging motorists to take extra care on the roads.

A police statement said flooding affected roads in eastern parts of Rotorua, inlcuding Te Ngae Road (SH 30).

Motorists were asked to drive to the conditions and limit their travel if possible.

Local councils, and Fire and Emergency NZ, are responding to incidents as required, the satement said.

Danny Gough, customer relations manager for Unison, said there were a number of outages across Rotorua as the wild weather hit.

"Lightning strikes, wind and rain went through and we did have around 1500 customers affected from about 6pm until 6.20. There are about 100 customers who went off around 7.20pm in the Te Ngae Rd, Lee Rd and Hannah Rd areas. They should be back on shortly," Gough said.

A spokesperson for Rotorua Lakes Council said properties throughout Rotorua's eastside suburbs have been flooded following tonight's thunderstorm.

Affected areas included Lynmore and Owhata (both sides of Te Ngae Rd), Holden's Bay and Hannah's Bay and out to near the airport with surface flooding also reported on several roads including Vaughan Rd, Warwick Drive and Iles Rd.

InfraCore and Fulton Hogan crews were dealing with the flooding which included reports of water entering homes.

Police and Fire Service crews were assisting with flood and road management.

Power outages in some parts of the eastern suburbs have also been reported. These are being handled by Unison.

There have been no reports at this time of slips or trees down.

There have been no road closures but motorists are urged to take extra care.

For assistance or to report flooding, slips, trees down or other damage call Rotorua Lakes Council on 07-3484199, any time.